Cannonball Men
by LSMunch
Summary: “He's got a drug problem.” Problem. If this were the interrogation room and I in a much safer situation, I might snort. NEW CHP! Surprise!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine. If it was, John would not be asking the questions he was asking and would be in the episodes.

"What would you do if I died?"

"What?"

"What would you do if I died?" he repeats.

"You aren't, so I don't know." He's thrown off by his partner's question.

"But what if I did?"

"Man, quit sayin' that. You ain't gonna die."

"So you think I'm immortal?"

He sighs, impatient. "You ain't gonna die in the near future, satisfied with that? Jeez."

"But what if I do?"

"Shut up, Munch! You. Aren't. Going. To. Die. So quit saying it."

He finally falls silent, staring at the space between their desks. They're moving out in a couple hours on a big search warrant and there's this horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. He starts to rock a bit in his chair, hands folded and resting in his lap. Fin continues to write up a DD5 from an arrest they made a couple days ago. Munch should be working on his, but he can't concentrate. "What if I do?" he whispers to himself. "What if I don't come back?" It's quiet, but Fin looks up, pen in hand. He just looks at his partner, but he doesn't really notice. He's too busy trying to guess how far apart the desks are.

"You arright, John?"

"Yeah, sure," he replies absentmindedly, still staring at the desks. He looks at Fin suddenly. "I'm hungry. You?"

"Uh... sure." He's thrown off again and it shows.

"Let's go get something to eat." Munch gets up before Fin says anything else and walks over to the coat rack, snatching his coat and sliding it on.

"Where we goin'?" he asks as he stands up as well, walking over to where Munch is waiting.

"Wherever the car takes us."

"I don't like the sound of that."

He grins absurdly and sticks out his hand. "Keys."

Fin tosses them and Munch catches them neatly, surprised at himself.

"Let's go, partner."

"What would you do if I died?"

"What is it with you and that question? Stop it, man." He's annoyed now and Munch doesn't really want him to be.

"I just want to know."

He's quite and Munch starts to play with his napkin, folding it over and over again before unfolding it and doing it again. Fin watches him do this before finally saying, "You're scared, aren't you?" It's quiet and Munch barely hears him over the noise in the diner.

He continues to fold his napkin, taking some asinine pleasure in the stupid patterns he's making. "I've never been so goddamned scared over a search warrant. Not even the first time. Never." Munch is quiet as well, afraid that if he says it too loud, it'll get worse. That if he says it too loud, his fears will come true.

"I got scared like that one time. I'm still here."

"Barely."

Fin ignores the comment. "Like this horrible feeling in your gut, right? That's what it feels like?"

Munch nods. "This is so stupid!" He throws the napkin away from him, but predictably, it doesn't go far, being only paper.

"No, it ain't." He picks up the napkin and hands it to his partner.

Munch takes the napkin wordlessly and begins to play with it again.

"You'll be fine, man. Don't worry about it. Only makes it worse."

"Yeah, sure," comes the unbelievingly response.

Fin watches his partner, following the deft hands fold and unfold the napkin. For all his wisecracks and oddities, Fin cares about his partner more than he'd readily admit and it hurts to see Munch like this now. It's not often he sees his partner in this state, almost beyond hope. But the few times he has, Munch has always gotten back up and kept going. Always. He wants this time to be the same.

"You'll be all right," he repeats, trying to reassure both himself and his partner.

Munch looks at him over the top of his glasses, head bowed. His eyelids are drooped down, giving him the appearance of a tired, sad, old man. Which he his, Fin thinks. No, stop, he tells himself firmly. He's just older than the rest of them. That's all. More experienced. Better not let him hear me say that out loud, he thinks.

"Let's go. I can't stand this place anymore. They're probably suiting up anyway." Munch stands and Fin follows, glad that his partner has decided at last to leave his question to rest.

But he can tell, John's still bothered.

He's still worried.

Godammit.


	2. Chapter 2

We're all gathered at the precinct, in one room, pulling on vests, checking weapons. We're moving out soon on a big search warrant. Captain called ESU and they're gonna meet us there, with their vans and trucks full of cannonball people, those that shoot into a room to make sure it's safe before we go in. They're the ones more likely to get shot at.

I tighten my vest a bit, for some reason it's loose. I wonder if maybe Fin grabbed mine from the back of the car by accident sometime. I don't bother to ask. It's all nerves and tension and being a warm day, with the air conditioner not working as well as it should, the room is hot with sweating bodies in such close proximity, all breathing the same re-circulated air. I glance at the new uni, who's excited and gulping at the muggy air, trying to get more oxygen into his slight frame. There's an older uniform, probably his partner, telling him little things, probably how it's going to go down and to not panic, just keep a cool head and function. Or he could just be telling this new guy to shut up, stay in the back and don't get in the way. Either way, I hope it works.

Captain comes in the room and yells, "Move out, people!" We follow orders and soon all that's left in the room is some papers that fell to the floor.

Fin and I head to our car and for some reason Captain's chosen our car to be ferried around in. I take the back seat as Fin is already ready to drive. As soon as Cap climbs in, he points and says, "Go." We follow Benson and Stabler's car.

As we pull down the street, I see the ESU vans heading towards us and they park on the other side of the street. Cap gets out and walks over to the passenger door on the first van, talking to the man inside who I know to be the lieutenant in charge of ESU. Then he hops out of the van and Cap waves to us and the Lieutenant waves to the back of his van and the front of the other one. Suddenly, there's twelve cannonball men rushing up the front stairs, preceding Benson, Stabler, Fin, Cap, and I. My gun is already drawn, as is all the others'. The uni from before is behind me, looking a bit green, but is partner is right there, making sure he doesn't screw up, or get in the way. I still haven't decided which.

We storm down the hall and up the stairs, heads poking out of apartments to see what the commotion is all about. The uniforms in back yell at them to "get back inside!" and generally they do. As we near the landing of the third floor, we slow down as Fin and I worm our way to the front; this is our case after all. Fin pounds on the door, yelling, "NYPD! Open up!" When no one does, he nods to the lieutenant who nods to his men, who bust down the door and fly through. Fin and I are at the tail end of them and as we hear the various "clears," I know our guy either skipped out before we came, or when we knocked on his door.

Then, I see a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye and I'm off to the right, down another hallway and into a bedroom. Our guy's halfway through the window, and instead of getting all the way out, he turns and I see the gun in his hand. Mine's still up and I yell, "Drop the gun!" I don't know where the ESU guys are, or Fin, but right now it doesn't really matter. Right now, it's just me and him.

Suddenly, he climbs back inside, and there's another man behind him, also holding a gun. An automatic rifle, by the looks of it. "Drop the gun!" I repeat. "Both of you!" I hear someone come up behind me and I know it's Fin.

"Back off!" our guy yells at Fin. I know he doesn't want to and that he's still standing there. Our guy yells again. "Back the fuck off, or both of you are dead!"

I can almost see Fin struggling with himself, even with my back to him. I turn my head a bit so I can see him standing with his gun half raised. "Fin... just do it. I'll be all right. Go."

He stares at me and I pray to any god that might be above to let him choose to leave. He does and I thank that god for giving him that strength because I know it was far from easy for him to leave his partner, his friend, to two guys with guns. "Whaddaya want?" I ask the man, as reasonably as I can manage.

"Put the gun on the floor."

"I can't do--"

"Do it!" he yells.

"Okay, okay." I bend slowly and place the gun on the floor.

"Push it towards me. Now!" he adds, seeing my hesitation. I push it forward. He waves his gun a bit. "Now, lay down. On your stomach."

I inch onto my belly, hating this with every cell in my body. Every cop's worst fear: to be held hostage with no way to get out but the people outside who you hope are in a much better position to help you out. I hear a bit of movement from the hallway and move my neck to see our guy wave his gun again.

"Stay the hell away! Don't come in here or your detective here isn't going to walk out of this room!" The movement rushes away. I'm alone again. All I can hope is that Fin and Captain are working their asses off to get me out of here.

"What do you want?" I ask again.

"Shut up! I don't wanna hear a word outta your mouth, you hear me old man?"

"Yes, I hear you."

"Good." He moves over to the window and whispers something to his buddy. Why this has to be me in this predicament, I don't know. I guess the god who answered me before has a devil that cursed me. All those times I managed to come out alive, without one mark on me, leaving friends behind to die. It finally caught up to me, in this dingy little bedroom with me lying prone on the floor without a gun. My only hope was that if he did shoot me, my vest would do something to protect me. I could live with a broken rib, or a bruised rib, just not a bullet in the chest. God, no.

He turns suddenly, and I resist the urge to tense. That would give away my emotions and I can't let him see that I'm afraid. "What can you do for him?" He nods his head toward the man on the fire escape.

"I don't know," I reply honestly. "He ran with you, and now he's helping you hold a police officer hostage. Not to mention that gun. Depends on if it's registered or not."

"He's my brother."

He says it as if it should make a difference. The only difference it might make is that they get to share a cell in jail. But I don't say that. "If he walks out now, without the gun, he might have a chance. I'll tell the judge he didn't really do anything."

"Can you get him into treatment?"

This throws me for a loop. I stare at the stained carpet not two inches from my face as I try to think. "What kind of treatment does he need?"

"He's got a drug problem."

Problem. If this were the interrogation room and I in a much safer situation, I might snort. "If we talk something out with the judge, he might be able to get into a program, yeah."

"What about me?"

I was wondering when he would get to this. "Holding me here isn't getting you any brownie points. But I could get you out alive."

He goes back to his brother and more whispering ensues. This sure is the strangest serial rapist I ever met. Doesn't give a shit about the women he degregates, but trying to make sure his junkie brother doesn't get in trouble. And he doesn't really seem to care about what happens to himself, despite trying to run and the early aggressiveness. I crane my neck a bit and see another flicker of movement on the roof across the street. Sniper.

He turns around again. "You sure he can leave freely?"

"As long as he surrenders his weapon and doesn't fight at all."

He faces his brother again. "Go," I hear him say. "Do what he said, surrender, no fight. Got it?" I assume his brother's reply is to his liking because the brother scampers down the fire escape and it's just me and him left.

"They have snipers surrounding this building. If you do anything to me, you'll go down too. You don't want your brother to see you come out on a stretcher, do you?"

He simply looks at me. My neck is starting to hurt from looking up at him, even though he's still near the window.

"I can get you out alive, if you just give me back my gun. I'll make sure they don't shoot. I promise."

He's raising his gun again, and a shiver of fear runs through me. No, he can't shoot now. I'm so close to getting him out, getting me out. I hear him cock the hammer and that's when I close my eyes. I won't watch as he pulls the trigger. I won't watch him shoot me.

But I don't her the telltale bang, and there's no sting from a bullet. Instead, just a thud and I open my eyes to see the gun on the floor. "Get up," he says. "Get your gun. Take me out."

I slowly get into a better position and then hoist myself up and I hear one of my knees crack. I walk slowly towards him. "Face the wall. Put your hands up." He starts to mumble something, but I cut him off. "If I don't cuff you, I can't trust you and I can't take you outta here safely." He stops and I slide the handcuffs over his wrists. I guide him to the bed, making sure he sits. With one eye on him, I pick up my gun, and his. I slide his into my holster, mine staying firmly in my right hand. "Stand up. Let's go." I follow him out of the room and down the hallway.

When I open the front door, it's to about five guns in my face. "Hey, hey, hey, guys. Take it easy. I just made it out without a hole in me, I'd like to make it back home like that, too." I hear one appreciative chuckle before one of them takes custody of my ex-captor. "Here." I hand his gun to another of the cannonball men. "That was the gun he pulled on me. Didja get his brother?" Another man nods. "Good."

They part for me and I'm left leading them downstairs to the street. I see Fin and Cap jog over, followed shortly by Stabler and Benson. "Hey, man, you all right?" Fin claps me on the shoulder and I'm surprised. Everything we do is without physical contact, and here he his, giving me the closest thing to a hug I'll ever receive from him.

"I'm in one piece, with no more holes than I should have."

I can tell he doesn't appreciate the joking manner.

"Is his brother all right?" I ask Cap.

He nods. "You did a good job in there, John."

I shrug. "It was either a good job or a free trip to the hospital. Which would you have chosen?"

He smiles slightly before going away to answer the calls of someone.

I'm left with my colleagues in front of me. "What?"

"Nothing," they seem to murmur in unison. I shake my head and wave Fin over to the car.

It's time to go home.


	3. Cold

A/N: This chapter was a bit of a surprise, even for me. Also, it was written in response to a challenge for the word "cold".

The flashlight was cold in his hand. His gun was cold in the other hand. Standing outside on a cold day in March with a fierce wind blowing down the canyon like streets of New York City can do that to metal objects. His hands were cold, too, even though they had been in gloves, or rather, barely covered by thin scraps of cloth that had no fingertips. He wasn't entirely sure if he had feeling in his fingers, _which,_ he wagered, _is probably just as bad as no feeling at all._

Creeping through the dark building, he heard Olivia's voice in his ear. "Fin's going in the other door."

He nodded, though she couldn't see him, and said into the small microphone near his wrist, "Got it." Continuing down the hallway he was in, he stuck to the wall, glancing behind him every few seconds. He flicked the flashlight beam down to the floor as he stepped on something that was soft before it made a cracking sound. A dead rat. _Gonna need a new pair of shoes after this one,_ he thought. Setting the flashlight steady against his gun again, like they taught at the Academy, he was soon in a large room littered with trash and things he couldn't name. He saw a flash out of the corner of his eye, he heard Olivia in his ear again.

"Fin's comin' up on you."

"Got it," he said again as the flash turned into a full on beam of bright light that threatened to temporarily make him blind. "Tell him to watch it with the damn flashlight."

Silence for a moment before the beam lowered and he could see Fin's face above the light he carried. He jerked his head to the right and Fin nodded, turning to go down another hallway.

Alone again, he crept among the garbage, sticking to the wall and working towards the other side. The sound of small feet and an equally small squeak alerted him to the presence of a rat, this time alive. An involuntary shudder passed over him as he thought about the scurrying animal. There were a lot of things he could stand, and rodents weren't one of them. And he sure as hell didn't feel like dealing with Arnold Schwarzarat at the moment, especially when things much more deadly could come out from anywhere.

Poking his head around a corner, he saw what he had come looking for: a haggardly dressed man and a woman, bound and gagged with duct tape. Backing up a few paces, he said softly into his mic, "Our guy's in a room, east end. He's got a woman. She's bound and gagged."

"Hold on a minute." Silence, which he knew to be that of Olivia conversing with the captain. "Fin's gonna meet up with you, ESU is comin' in. Hold off until they reach you."

"Okay." He strained his ears for the sound of Fin, his senses at a level only reached by those who are in immediate danger of being killed. His back against the stone wall, he alternated between watching for Fin and looking towards the corner around which he would soon run. Closing his eyes, he pictured the woman's eyes, fearful, but wit ha slight glint of hope that he had glimpsed as he had quickly peeked around the wall. She had seen him, and that gave him hope as well. The slight murmur of the man's voice drifted to him, though he couldn't make out the words.

"ESU coming?" he asked as Fin joined him minutes later.

He shrugged. "Didn't see 'em." Nodding towards the wall to their left, he asked, "Our guy in there?"

He only nodded in response, then caught the flash of another light. "I think ESU's here."

Fin turned his head, then ran lightly down the length of the wall. Some conversing with the five ESU guys and then they were all running back.

"You got men out back?"

The leading man nodded. "Waiting for your orders."

He looked Fin in the eye and saw the confirmation that he was ready. "Tell 'em to go," he told his wrist and Olivia. Then he said to the six men beside him, "Let's go."

They burst into the open space to find the man shirtless and undoing his pants. "Freeze!" John yelled and he did. "Turn around! Slowly!" He didn't really expect the man to have anything on him, as far as weapons were concerned. The ESU men fanned out across the room as a door on the opposite wall was knocked in and five more ESU guys poured in, fanning out as well. Fin rushed forward and grabbed the guy.

"Tuck it in," he spat, contempt filling his voice. The man did so hurriedly and Fin grabbed his wrists and spun his around again, sliding the cold handcuffs over his wrists. "Serventin Polichko, you are under arrest for the rape and murder of Kristine Polichko, and seven other women. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand?"

Polichko gave a jerk of his head and John watched as Fin tried not to kick the guy, or worse. Shoving him ahead, he went out the door that ESU had kicked in. John went to the woman that still lie bound and gagged. Pulling a pocket knife out, he flicked it open and quickly cut the duct tape. "This is going to hurt." He pulled the tape from her mouth, wincing as she did. Grabbing her clothes from the floor, he gave them to her, allowing her to slowly put them on. He yelled out, "Someone get a blanket or a jacket or something." Two men ran outside.

Once the woman was dressed, he took her arm and helped her to stand. "What's your name?" His voice was soft.

"Natasha." It was whispered, hoarse.

"It's okay now, Natasha," he said, taking the blanket one of the returning men handed him and wrapping it around her shoulders, keeping his arm around her protectively.

"It's okay now. It's over."


End file.
